# Old Beads Turned Yellow and Brown



## Enlil (Jun 10, 2010)

I have been reading around here long enough to see a few threads discussing humidity beads that turned shades of yellow after prolonged use in a humidor. Mostly the posters seem to be worried that their yellowed beads may not be properly regulating humidity for them. It seems to me that the yellowed beads in these pictures work as well as they did when they were perfectly white.

I have had these beads in use for a long time (cant remember exactly how long, less than a decade I am fairly sure, but surely since before '05 certainly) and they have yellowed over the ensuing years. I do not remember what trade name these beads were marketed under, but I believe that these may be "Climaxx" beads (what I definitely remember is that I thought they were "museum grade" when I purchased them, but the terrible double entendre(sp?) kinda rings a bell) but I cannot distinctly remember the brand or supplier.

When I removed the bead container from my humidor to take these pictures I did for the first time notice that these beads have a distinct smell. I had never noticed the smell before, I assume, because they smell very much like the inside of that humidor. There is a subtle difference to the smell, the beads are slightly "sweeter" smelling than the actual humidor, or maybe its more correct to say there is a kind of top-note to the smell. The smell coming from the beads was quite evident in the no-smoking, well-lit room where I took the pictures, and frankly the smell made me want to go have a cigar.

Finally, for your amusement, I have also included pictures of some beads that somehow made their way outside the container of beads (probably at a refill time, but maybe even from day one). These brown beads were sitting directly on the Spanish Cedar in the bottom of the humi when I first noticed them. They may have had physical contact with either the un-celoed cigars in the piles on the left and right of the bead container, or with the half empty bundle of cigars (the celo blurred out in the right foreground). I do not know how long these beads sat on the floor of that humidor, but all the beads pictured come from lots purchased from one vendor at one time, sometime in the not so recent past. I do not know if I trust those brown beads to regulate humidity correctly but I have allowed them to continue to sit where they are just for the novelty of having them.

1st pic is dry beads
2nd pic is beads freshly wetted (I didnt know which would demonstrate the color better so there are both)
3rd pic is the brown beads sitting next to a container with beads from the same lot that have been in the same humi the same length of time (they are slightly yellowed too but have been protected from direct contact with anything)

Maybe its not particularly useful info, but at least its some pictures to look at


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## tobacmon (May 17, 2007)

I have some beads that are doing the same thing. The Heartfelt beads pretty much stay white when dry and clear when wet. The beads I have that change like your beads have are the kitty type people here use I think. Nothing to be concerned about though, as long as they work. Thanks for the post...


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Yes Peter i run Kitty litter and as Paul has said it turns that color as well. When it does i just toss it litter is cheap. Beads are expensive so as you have said as long as they work why change them.


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## Tritones (Jun 23, 2010)

The smell is something to bear in mind. Humidity beads will absorb (and later give off) the odors in your humidor. Not a bad thing unless you use them for infused cigars, and then want to use them for other cigars. In the short time I've had my humidor and coolidor, I can already smell cedar/tobacco on the beads. I use both Heartfelt and Conservagel - both take on the smell of the humi. I don't smoke infused cigars, so I can't say for sure that the beads will absorb the scent, but I would be surprised if they do not.


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## Magnate (Nov 27, 2009)

My heartfelt beads came with 5 - 10 brown beads. Since then, I've noticed a couple of other beads turn brown (or maybe they always were and I never noticed).


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## Enlil (Jun 10, 2010)

Magnate said:


> My heartfelt beads came with 5 - 10 brown beads. Since then, I've noticed a couple of other beads turn brown (or maybe they always were and I never noticed).


Brown like the third picture? That would be a little disconcerting in a package of new beads. I have checked the yellow beads a few times to make sure they were still working correctly (which they were at all the checks that I have conducted so far). I just have those couple of brown beads so I have not tried to check those for function, but they look pretty far gone to me eye.

I have more pics of the yellow beads but I thought (incorrectly it seems) that three was the maximum number of pics I could attach. The yellow coloring does not extend all the way to the bottom of the bead container, just the ones near the surface have become colored. I will try to post more pics later.

Thanks for the replies (I still need a dozen more posts before I can start to unleash some carnage:evil


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## Enlil (Jun 10, 2010)

Here is an alternate view of the beads in the pictures above. The yellow color does not seem to be migrating down the column of beads (although the wetted picture might seem to imply that, I believe it to be a trick of the lighting used for the photographs).

I have begun to wonder if the fact that the color has only infiltrated the beads to a depth of around a half inch, might indicate that any column of beads would suffer from diminishing returns as it achieves or exceeds that depth. Maximizing surface area is a one of the things that many bead users seem to consider helpful, and this maybe visual evidence to support their claims.

The last of the four pics is the beads where they sit in the humidor. They have been in that same container in that same corner since they were snow white.


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## bouncintiga (Feb 3, 2010)

got fresh 60RH beads and compared them to the 65RH i've been running since december last year and there is a noticeable yellow tint to the 65rh beads when i put them side by side with the new beads. Yours are incredibly yellow though I've never seen that before. look like fish roe.


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## Enlil (Jun 10, 2010)

bouncintiga said:


> there is a noticeable yellow tint to the 65rh beads when i put them side by side with the new beads.


What brand of 65rH beads (if you dont mind my asking)? The 60rH must be HF. I could presume that both are HF, but thought I would ask just to make sure.



bouncintiga said:


> compared them to the 65RH i've been running since december last year.


Dec 2009? Thats not much time at all. Those beads are barely broken in:wink:. I didnt notice any change as it happened, just one time I was recharging a few years ago I thought "wait a second, these beads used to all be white".



bouncintiga said:


> Yours are incredibly yellow though I've never seen that before.


I saw a few threads on yellow beads in the first few days/weeks that I was on the forum, mostly from people that were worried that their beads didnt work correctly after their color changed. All the old hands around here did their best to reassure those posters that their beads were fine (which I firmly believe is correct) but I looked at the pictures some of them had submitted of their yellow beads and thought "If you are so worried over that coloration then you would keel over from a heart attack if you saw mine". I posted the pics just to add to the reassurance that yellow beads may not look good, but they do work good, and they smell Great:beerchug:

The pictures of them wet kinda exagerate the color. Many pictures from that camerea under that lighting set up come out with an orange hue (which really compliments anything made of gold, but makes anything silver plated look a little brassy). The dry beads in the pictures look more "pinkish" in the pictures than they do to the unaided eye, and I thought that the camera kinda downplayed their coloration, so I sprayed them a bit, and got the opposite effect. :hmm:



bouncintiga said:


> look like fish roe


Yeah, but they taste terrible, wont stay on the crecker, and they are a little too crunchy IMHO.:biglaugh:


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

Enlil said:


> Maximizing surface area is a one of the things that many bead users seem to consider helpful, and this maybe visual evidence to support their claims.


Essential to proper performance, indeed. And you all think I'm crazy? :tease:


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## bouncintiga (Feb 3, 2010)

yea both the 65 and 60 rh beads are from HF. I could only tell when I have both beads put together side by side. the newer ones are almost pure white, and next to the "older" beads I can see a definite yellowish tint.


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